In the primary world, ‘android’ refers to a robot which is human-like in appearance. Humanoid at minimum and indistinguishable from humans at the other extreme.

Androids appear a lot in fiction…so, yeah.

The play R.U.R. was the source of the word ‘robot’ and it’s also a very unusual depiction of robots/androids by modern standards (fully biological). But we’ll get into that later. R.U.R. could be seen as the place where modern androids actually began as a trope. The other major influence would be I, Robot, the book by Isaac Asimov.
Asimov made them fully mechanical; created the Three Laws of Robotics (which are bad); and established how robots are supposed to act.

Androids in fiction tend to take one of two broad forms: fully mechanical and partially biological.

Though it’s important to note that these two forms tend to overlap…a lot. To the point that it’s often difficult to distinguish the two and, as I am realizing while writing this, might be pointless.

Androids vary a lot in depiction…so much that it’s difficult to really make general observations…though it is reasonably common to see them bleed. And, if they do bleed, it’s most often White Blood.

Androids somewhat overlap with artificially-made humans, though that’s all I’ll say for now.

There’s an obvious similarity with clones…I mean, clones are a type of artificially-made human as well I guess.

The clones in Star Wars are probably the most android-like depiction. At least as far as I know.

Golem is a folkloric creature possibly from Jewish folklore, though I’ve only heard about the Prague golem…and he’s basically a pre-modern android.

The androids depicted here are 100% mechanical and, as far as I can tell, even the bits that look organic are…not.

This one is another ambiguous example, as it could be argued that the protagonist is an android. Though it’s probably better thought of as an artificially-grown human rather than an android.

The androids in Alien are likely not self-aware and they’re almost entirely mechanical. They also ‘bleed’ white blood.

The bioroids from Appleseed are a really weird example because they’re treated as androids, but they are almost certainly 100% biological. Further, they have free will (to a certain extent).

I think that they’re definitely an example of androids, but of the kind that are very quickly becoming…not androids.

The androids here are entirely mechanical (sorta), being based on Asimov’s work.

They gradually adopt more biological components, though I…think that these aren’t actually biological…they’re just similar to biological components. But I’ll be honest, I can’t remember the film that well.

The androids are also self-aware and the titular man is declared a human being, though I seriously disagree with him on philosophical grounds.

The androids are called replicants for some reason and are…ambiguous.

I think that the implication is that they’re almost entirely biological…or that their mechanical components resemble biological ones almost exactly.

Replicants quite obviously possess a soul, for some reason.

It is revealed that replicants can reproduce, which really does suggest that they are entirely biological with few or zero mechanical components.

They’re also capable of reproducing with humans, which is a massive can of worms that we shouldn’t get into.

An argument could be made for the Coppelion being androids, though it’s more like a depiction of artificially-grown humans or clones, rather than fleshy androids.

It’s more accurate to say that they’re clones who are treated as androids.

This is an ambiguous and unusual case. But, basically most of humanity is extinct and the remnants of humanity are part of an action game. Robots are the dominant ‘species’ and they spend all their time engaging in decadent activities. When they play the action game, they enter avatars which are humanoid in shape and could be argued to be androids.

The androids depicted here are an interesting case because:

• They bleed. Specifically ‘blue blood’ which has an implication that the creators probably didn’t intend but, if they did, they’re dumb and annoying.
• They are fully mechanical.
• Their human-like appearances are not artificial skin but a hologram that is projected 24/7…presumably. The game is inconsistent.

The first point’s implication is that robots are aristocrats…which may or may not be a way of suggesting they’re superior to humans.

They are also obviously self-aware. Oh, and they are all white.

The bigger question is why not all the androids are attractive, because that’s obviously how it would turn out in real life. Also, military androids shouldn’t look human at all, but still be humanoid.

Androids in Ghost in the Shell are 9 times out of 10 really dumb and not self-aware at all. There’s a moment in S.A.C. where a guy is straight-up dead and his two android sex bots are just vibing next to his corpse…so they’re obviously not very intelligent…usually.

There are exceptions: in the manga, an android company did manage to produce very life-like androids because they engaged in ghost-dubbing…which is when you copy the ‘ghost’ (the soul) of a person and then put it into something. Ghost dubbing’s disadvantage is that the androids which are made from dubbing are unstable (they only get an inferior copy) and, oh yeah, the person who got scanned will literally die. Which I actually take a little issue with, but I digress.
S.A.C. also includes a case of ghost dubbing, where a man is continuously dubbed over and over again. I don’t remember the exact details, but it’s something like: he entered a coma that he would not exit…so he was ghost dubbed and the ghost was plopped into an android. Whenever an android reaches the end of its lifespan, it gets dubbed into a new android.
This is a death-spiral though, because each copy is inferior to the previous version…so, at some point…it’s just poof and he’s just a regular android.

The other exception is from Episode 3 of S.A.C. which is one of the earliest examples of an android possibly gaining self-awareness. Read about that on the page about the Ghost in the Shell theme.

Though most androids in Ghost in the Shell are decidedly dumb. Like, for reference: the Tachikomas (which are autonomous tanks) are more intelligent than most of the androids depicted.

Also, androids bleed and they bleed white blood. One character even remarks “I can smell her white blood” though, ironically, this was in reference to Kusanagi.

Androids in Girls’ Frontline are called dolls and they are overwhelmingly feminine. Most of them are civilian-level while a small subset are military androids.

Most of the androids that are encountered in the franchise are civilian dolls retrofitted for combat, which is why they appear human. Most actual military androids (roughly until the events of the first game, IIRC) are humanoid but don’t appear human. Though most military robots aren’t humanoid at all.

They are almost certainly conscious and even perform their work better if they’re treated well and loved. Though the majority of the population doesn’t seem to think that they’re anything except toasters with boobs.
But something that makes this even stranger is that, at least by the events of the second game, it’s possible for androids to own themselves. I don’t even want to think about the implications.

Some androids are straight-up part of religious cults which worship eldritch gods, but I haven’t gotten to that point in the story yet.

There is another possible implication, though I only heard of this as a fan theory: the reason androids are humanoid is because they were intended as a quick solution to population collapse. Basically, everyone needed to replace human labor ASAP, but not enough humans existed…so dolls were created as a way to fulfill demand.
That also explains why most dolls operate human equipment instead of just…being the equipment. It saves on cost to have a robot that can wield a gun, drive a car and perform maid work…as compared to a gun that shoots itself, a car that drives itself and…a maid.

Androids are just called robots and are fully mechanical. They even appear somewhat creepy.

They have the capacity to become self-aware, as Sunny is definitely conscious.

Rossum's Universal Robots is the origin of the term ‘Robot’ which is originally Czech. Though this play also depicts androids.

Depicts 100% biological androids, which is what makes it so unusual by modern standards. This is also the source of the Robot Uprising trope.

Whether they’re conscious or not is ambiguous. They are all mostly robotic, but are capable of rational thinking (and mental gymnastics). They kill all humans except the one who had a carpentry hobby, because they classify robots as those who perform work: so, in their mind, he was a robot.
Though the revolution is explicitly led by robots who were made a little more intelligent.

They are incapable of reproducing on their own…maybe. That bit is kinda weird since the author mixed themes with the actual plot.

They also probably do something which prevents humans from reproducing. Though exactly what is unknown since this is kept ambiguous.

The androids are mechanical, but possess biological components…to the point that they can mimic humans very well and bleed. Though bleeding is just a way for them to deceive others.

Their level of consciousness is questionable, though I’m assuming they are conscious.

I think that Star Wars, particularly the Clone Wars era, is a very unusual but fascinating depiction of androids…because it depicts both mechanical and biological androids.

Yes, I’m arguing that the clones here are androids.

Though I should repeat a disclaimer here from the main page: I consider the old Expanded Universe to be canon. So that’s what I’m going off of. The Clone Wars cartoon and anything made by Disney is not canon.

In real Star Wars canon, the connection between clones and androids is made very much explicit. They do not possess free will in any meaningful sense: they follow orders absolutely…just that they can interpret them creatively.

This does not apply to all clones. Arc Troopers and Commandos can, and sometimes do, ignore or question orders…which means that they are not really androids.

I’m going out on a limb to suggest that Terminator is where most of the modern depictions of partially biological androids come from.

The Terminators are humanoid-shaped (their body resembles a skeleton) and have actual flesh grown on top of them.

• I released this article after stumbling upon it and being shocked to see a basically complete article that I just didn’t know about until now.
• Otherwise, I have no clue what to put here. I’m not even sure what tags to give the page. I’ll think of that later. Maybe.